Imagine a time when heroin was marketed for the whole family. It really happened! Also, how Twitter, M&M’s, and Hallmark cards got their names. Plus, restaurant slang, bad juju, having a wild hair, cutting to the quick, and use vs. utilize.

How Products Got Their NamesNancy Friedman’s blog Fritinancy is a great source of information about how products get their names. For example, the names Twitch and Jitter were rejected before the creators of Twitter finally settled on the well-known moniker.

Wild HairThe idiom to have a wild hair, which dates to the 50’s, means you’re itching to do something. It’s pretty literal: just think about those itchy stray hairs under your collar after a haircut.

Trillin on WhomIs it fussy and pretentious to use the word whom instead of who? If you think so, you’ll be heartened by writer Calvin Trillin’s observation on the difference between whom and who: “As far as I’m concerned, whom is a word that was invented to make everyone sound like a butler.”

Use vs. UtilizeWhich is correct: use or utilize? The answer depends on the context. The word utilize carries an additional shade of meaning, suggesting that you’re using something in a way it’s not ordinarily employed. For example, you would use a stapler to staple, but you might utilize a stapler as a paperweight. In any case, use is your safest bet.

M&M NameOne of comedian Megan Amram’s hilarious tweets made Martha wonder about how M&M’s got their name. In 1940, Forrest Mars and an heir to the Hershey fortune, Bruce Murrie, created a candy similar to the European chocolates called Smarties. The American version takes its name from the initials of the candymakers’ last names, Mars and Murrie.

Colbertism Word GameQuiz Guy John Chaneski has a word game full of Colbertisms, in honor of how comedian Stephen Colbert pronounces his own name, with a silent “T” at the end. Why not drop the “T” off all words ending in “RT”?

30 at the Ends of ArticlesWhy do newspaper reporters end articles with the number 30 or the three-pound-sign symbol ###? No one knows for sure, although that never stopped journalists from debating the origin of this way of ending a story. The practice arose in a bygone era when reporters typed their copy directly onto paper and handed it over to copyboys, and needed a way to indicate the last page in case one was lost somewhere in the process. In 2007, a vestige of this old practice figured in an amusing correction in the New York Times.

Writing Customer ApologiesWhat is the best way to write an apology to a customer, especially if you’re handling complaints for a corporation. Some tips: be sincere, and make sure your wording makes clear that you understand the consumer’s complaint and that your company takes responsibility for the mistake and wants to make things right.

Naming AspirinAspirin is now a generic drug, but it was once a brand-name product made by Bayer. It’s just one of many genericized trademarks, also known as proprietary eponyms, which includes not only aspirin, but kerosene, dry ice, and cellophane.

JujuWhat is juju? Is there such a thing as good juju, or is it only possible to have bad juju? This African term for a charm or spell took off during the Back-to-Africa movement in the 1960’s, and has been mentioned in connection with international soccer matches.

Naming HeroinIs it true that the drug heroin was once marketed to families? Yes! In the 1890’s, heroin, a substitute for morphine, was hailed as a tremendous help to patients with tuberculosis, a leading cause of death at the time. Heroin eased the terrible suffering of tuberculosis by suppressing the respiratory system and thus the painful coughing fits associated with the disease. Nineteenth-century German doctors used the term heroisch (“heroic”) to describe powerful drugs, and the German company that would later make Bayer aspirin dubbed this promising new drug Heroin. Before the drug’s addictive nature and damaging effects were known, heroin was marketed specifically for children, resulting in some rather astonishing Spanish-language ads.

Two-TopIf a waiter needs a table for two, they might call for a two-top. This restaurant lingo, referring to the amount of place-settings needed, comes from a larger body of terms. Anthony Bourdain’s book Kitchen Confidential is a good source of additional slang from kitchens around the world.

Cut to the QuickIf you cut something to the quick, it means you’re getting at its very essence. It comes from the Old English word cwicu, meaning alive. It the source of the quick in the phrase the quick and the dead, as well as the words quicksilver (“living silver”), and quicksand (“living sand”), and the quick of your finger, the tender part under the fingernail.

Naming HallmarkHallmark Cards got its name from Joyce C. Hall, who bought an engraving shop along with his brothers in 1910. Would it have taken off had they just called it Hall Cards?

Doctor’s AppointmentWhy do we say that we have a doctor’s appointment instead of an appointment with a doctor? After all, we don’t say we have accountant’s appointments or attorney’s appointments.

I have always been bewildered by “doctor’s appointment” as well, but for a different reason. I never understood why there is an apostrophe s in the first place – wouldn’t it just be, “I have a doctor appointment?”

2012/09/242:38pm

Ron Draney

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I’ve never had the urge to use the word juju in daily life, but I did once tell someone at work that some information she wanted was going to be a little late because “my qi is all messed up today”.

On a separate topic, my mother worked in a restaurant for many years, so I’ve heard a lot of industry jargon, but two-top is new to me. She and the people she worked with called those deuce tables.

Carrie Pruhs said
I have always been bewildered by “doctor’s appointment” as well, but for a different reason. I never understood why there is an apostrophe s in the first place – wouldn’t it just be, “I have a doctor appointment?”

Yeah, I think that’s the point Grant was making. The “apostrophe s” denotes possession or ownership. So I guess the question is whether it’s your appointment or the doctor’s appointment. Since an appointment is kinda like a contractual agreement between you and the doctor, one could argue that the appointment belongs to both of you.

Of course, that still doesn’t explain why we speak of appointments with other professions without that “apostrophe s.” Curious usage …

Now I’d be fine with: I have an appointment at the doctor’s. (with “office” implied or stated)

I agree with Carrie. I’ve had a doctor appointment, a dentist appointment. Getting others to subscribe to this usage, is to me, fool errand.

2012/10/014:33am

ToddL

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The discussion of pointing to your elbow as a sign for water, indicating that the people ordering it are cheap, made me think of the sign language sign for poor. To sign poor, you squeeze or rub your elbow. I’m sure this is probably completely coincidental, but it’s a fun connection nonetheless.Link

2012/10/014:33am

Monte Letourneau

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Re: doc’s appointment -I think you hit on a clue when mentioning childhood.
My guess is that it is sort of pre-literate, or lower class, usage that never changed.
Long ago only a very few very literate would have had a meeting with a Lawyer or Accountant, and would not want to refer to it as the other’s appointment. Grammer that is thought out or formal would also tend to preclude the idea of ownership of an appointment by the service provider.
There is also the difference in the relationship, you may pay doctors and lawyers, and you may follow their recommendations, but only a health professional gives one orders, as if they were the boss. Hence, it’s OK for the doc to own the meeting, but the Lawyer appointment definately belongs to the client.
I feel that either of these possibilities looks towards pre-literate usage, either as childhood habit, or educational progression historically.
It would be nice to know when it entered written use.

The two usages begin to diverge around 1940, with “doctor’s appointment” now clearly in the lead. Gotta wonder what happened in 1940. I don’t know jack about the history of medicine, but I suspect a medical professional could provide some insights.

I also looked up attorney and lawyer. Lawyer appointment does not exist but lawyer’s appointment does. The first one is spurious in that it was referring to a lawyer’s appointment to a position–not someone meeting with one.

Emmett

Added in edit:

I looked a little more at lawyer’s appointment and half or more seem to be of the spurious kind mentioned above.

But, I did notice an interesting construction which might have some bearing on the question, i.e. “my lawyer’s appointment”. The possession in it is for both parties, the speaker/author and the lawyer. However, if this is the origin of the possessive use (doctor’s), it does not transfer to nor explain the possessive not being preferred in the case of dentist appointment.

Emmett: You’re not “that kind of doctor” ??? Then you must be one of those doctors that help people sort out their philosophy. :)

I did some research online regarding “doctor appointment” and discovered that 1940 (see my previous post to this thread) was right around the time when doctors stopped making house calls and started setting up offices where you had to come to them. The transition was pretty much complete by the late 50s. Even though these days, in small towns, there are some younger doctors that are starting to do house calls again.

Strange part of that is, if the doctor is coming to you, then it is the doctor’s appointment. Contradicts what I presumed even earlier in this thread.

2013/09/051:35pm

hippogriff

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30: As one who can still hand-set type, I learned it as indicating to the typesetter than a 30 point slug (bar of metal too low to print) goes there to give some space before the next article.

Asprin: Bayer still holds the name in Canada. There the term is “ASA tablet” from the name of the chemical compound, acetyl-salicetic acid”.

edible juju: Any relation to jujub, a Chinese fruit resembling a crab apple, but having a bland, slightly sweet fruit rather than the crab apple’s too tart to eat straight (but great for jelly)?

doctor: The usage is more often “dental appointment” or “going to the dentist”.

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